Slicing machine



April 1934- w. A. VAN BERKEL 1,954,605

SLICING MACHINE Filed Sept. 23. 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet l April 10, 1934. w. A. VAN BERKEL SLICING MACHINE Filed Sept. 25, 1932 '2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Apr. 10, 1934 V UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SLICING MACHINE Application September 23, 1932, Serial No. 634,483 In Great Britain October 13, 1931- 11 Claims. (01; 146-102) The present invention relates to slicing machines of the type in which the knife derives its movement from the movement of the table and is intended especially for such machines in which the table movement is produced by manual pressure on the table itself, the table being connected by suitable gearing to the knife drive.

One object of the present invention is to avoid some of the difliculties encountered with prior known drives between reciprocating tables for slicing machines and the knives which are driven thereby.

Another object of this invention resides in providing a gear drive which includes a segmental 1 gear and a pinion gear, the latter being directly connected through a free wheel or the like to the knife which is to be driven. The segmental gear is connected by a suitable link to the table.

Other objects of this invention will appear hereinafter as the description thereof proceeds, the novel features, arrangements, and combinations being clearly set forth in the appended claims.

In the drawings- Figure 1 represents a side elevational view of a slicing machine embodying my invention as viewed from the substance supporting table side of the slicing machine;

Figure 2 is a cross section taken along the line 2--2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a plan view of the slicing machine shown in Figure 1; and

Figure 4 is a section taken along the line 4-4 of Figure 3.

In the drawings, the reference numeral indicates the base of a slicing machine having a reciprocably mounted table 11 thereon, the same being provided with suitable guide rollers 12 guided within any suitable form of guides such as U-shaped guides 13. Mounted at one side of the base is a chain box casing 14 which houses the chain drive to the knife 15, the knife being carried by the shaft 16, which, in turn, is rotatably mounted in suitable bearings on the chain box 14.. A drive shaft 17 extends into the chain box casing 14. This shaft 17 is parallel to the shaft 16 and is connected thereto by means of a chain 18 arranged over sprockets 19 and 20 on the shafts 16 and 17 respectively.

The shaft 17 extends from the chain box housing toward the center of the base of the machine and terminates approximately midway of the width of the base, as is clearly seen from an inspection of Figure 3. A spur gear 21 is secured to the shaft 17 on the portion thereof which extends beyond the casing 22, and this spur gear meshes with a segmental spur gear 23 pivoted on a short stub shaft 24 and is provided with an operating arm 25. The operating arm 25 is connected by means of a link 26 to the slicing machine table 11. The link 26 is pivoted to the table at 27 and to the arm 25 at 28. As is clear from an inspection of Figure 1, the upper end of the arm 25 does not extend much above the supporting surface of the table when the slicing machine table is at the extreme left hand position as viewed in Figure 1. When the carriage is moved by manual pressure applied to the handle 29 secured to the table 11 and in a direction to the right, as viewed in Figure 1, the connecting link 26 through the intermediacy of the arm 25 actuates the segmental gear 23 which, in turn, rotates the pinion 21, and this, in turn, drives the knife 15 through the intermediacy of the shaft 17, chain 18, and free wheel 30, the free wheel comprising the I sprocket 19 and rollers 31 arranged within the tapered recesses 32, whereby the sprocket 19 and shaft 16 are caused to move in unison with each other to drive the knife in a clockwise direction.

The reverse movement of the sprocket 19, however, causes the rollers 31 to move into the wider portions of the recesses 32 and the sprocket rotates freely in a counter-clockwise direction, while the knife continues to move in a clockwise direction.

As the operator moves the table toward the knife, the driving connection previously described operates to rotate the knife in a clockwise direction through the free wheel, and as the table is moved away from the knife the driving mechanism moves in an opposite sense, and as a result, the free wheel rotates in a counter-clockwise direction, While the knife continues to move under its own inertia until the next successive forward stroke of the table. It will be noted that the arrangement is such that the knife is being positively driven while cutting through the substance.

Since the segmental gear operates directly on a gear on the shaft 17, very little friction results and a very direct drive to the knife is had. Also, it will be noted that the driving gears are all mounted on the base, and therefore can be held in proper spaced relation with respect to each other to insure proper noiseless driving of the knife.

The connections to the table include only members which are pivoted together, and these do not normally cause any appreciable noise nor friction, and as a result, there is a very quiet and efficient connection between the table and the knife whereby the knife is driven with only a very small amount of effort, and the drive is not one to produce undesirable noises.

5 It will also be noted that one big advantage of applicants invention is that the point of application of the force for turning the gear segment 23 is remote from the pivot thereof, and as a result, this enables the operator to actuate the knife much more readily than in the ordinary rack and pinion drive, where the rack has only a very relatively small turning force on the gear with which it is in mesh. With the arrangement shown in the drawings, the leverage can be in creased as desired without changing the size of the gear segment.

The slicing machine is provided with a gauge plate 33 which is carried by guides 34 and adjusted by an operating handle 35 to position the gauge plate the desired distance from the cutting plane of the knife for the purpose of gauging the thickness of the slice being cut. Indicating mechanism 36 indicates the distance which the gauge plate is from the cutting plane of the knife or the thickness of the slice to be out.

Obviously those skilled in the art to which this invention pertains may make various changes in the particular arrangement and combination disclosed herein without departing from the scopeof this invention, and therefore I do not wish to be limited except as hereinafter set forth in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I ,claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a slicing machine, the combination with a base, of a gear segment mounted on said base for pivotal movement thereon, a rotatable knife ,having the axis thereof extending substantially in 40 the same direction as the pivot for said gear segment, a shaft parallel to the pivot for said gear segment, a driving connection between said gear segment and said shaft and between said shaft and knife, a support slidably mounted on said base and an operative connection between said support and said gear segment for actuating said gear when said support is moved toward and away from the knife.

,, 2. In a slicing machine,- the combination with -a base, of a gear segment mounted on said base for pivotal movement thereon, a rotatable knife having the axis thereof extending substantially in the same direction as the pivot for said gear segment, a shaft parallel to the pivot for said gear segment, a driving connection between said gear segment and said shaft and between said shaft and said knife, a support slidably mounted on said base and an operative connection between said support and said gear segment for actuating said gear when said support is moved toward and away from the knife, the driving connection between said shaft and said knife including a free wheel for operatively driving said knife when said shaft is actuated by the movement of the support in a direction toward the slicing knife but not during the rotation of the shaft or during the movement of the support away from the slicing knife.

3. In a slicing machine, the combination with a base member, of a slicing knife mounted for rotation on said base member, a gauge plate having the substance engaging portion thereof arranged substantially parallel to the cutting plane of said knife, a substance support movably mounted on said base in a direction substantially parallel with said cutting plane, a link pivoted to said support extending in the direction of movement of said support, a gear segment pivoted on an axis extending in a direction substantially perpendicular to the cutting plane of the knife and having an arm thereon pivotally connected to said link, a shaft extending substantially parallel to the pivot for said gear segment having a gear thereon meshing with said segment, and a one-way driving connection between said shaft and said knife for actuating the knife when the shaft is moved in one direction but not in the other, said support being operable to rock said gear segment and said shaft as said support moves in opposite directions on said base member.

4. In a slicing machine, the combination with a base member, of a slicing knife mounted for rotation on said base member, a gauge plate having the substance engaging portion thereof arranged substantially parallel to the cutting plane of said knife, a substance support movably mounted on said base in a direction substantially parallel with said cutting plane, a link pivoted to said support extending in the direction of movement of said support, a gear segment pivoted on an axis extending in a direction substantially perpendicular to the cutting plane of the knife and having an arm thereon pivotally connected to said link, a shaft extending substantially parallel to the pivot for said gear segment having a gear thereon meshing with said segment, and a one-way driving connection between said shaft and said knife for actuating the knife when the shaft is moved in one direction but not in the other, said support being operable to rock said. gear segment and said shaft as said support moves in opposite directions on said base member, said link being pivotally connected to said support beneath the same and a substantial distance toward the operators position and having an upwardly offset portion beyond the side of said support away from said operators position, and said arm for actuating said gear segment being of substantial length whereby the 120 driving connection to said knife is such as to drive said knife at an increased speed while the driving connection to said knife is located on the substance support side of the knife.

5. In a slicing machine, the combination with 125 a base member, of a slicing knife mounted for rotation on said base member, a gauge plate having the substance engaging portion thereof arranged substantially parallel to the cutting plane of said knife, a substance support movably mount- 130 ed on said base in a direction substantially parallel with said cutting plane, a link pivoted to said support extending in the direction of movement of said support, a gear segment pivoted on an axis extending in a direction substantially perpendicular to the cutting plane of the knife and having an arm thereon pivotally connected to said link, a shaft extending substantially parallel to the pivot for said gear segment having a gear thereon meshing with said segment, and a one-way driving connection between said shaft and said knife for actuating the knife when the shaft is moved in one direction but not in the other, said support being operable to rock said 145 gear segment and said shaft as said support moves in opposite directions on said base member, said link being pivotally connected to said support and a substantial distance toward the operators position and. having an upwardly offset portion be- 50 yond the side of said support away from said operators position.

6. In a slicing machine, the combination with a base member, of a slicing knife mounted for rotation on said base member, a gauge plate having the substance engaging portion thereof arranged substantially parallel to the cutting plane of said knife, a substance support movably mounted on said base in a direction substantially parallel with said cutting plane, a link pivoted to said support extending in the direction of movement of said support, a gear segment pivoted on an axis extending in a direction substantially perpendicular to the cutting plane of the knife and having an arm thereon pivotally connected to said link, a shaft extending substantially parallel to the pivot for said gear segment having a gear thereon meshing with said segment, and a one-way driving connection between said shaft and said knife for actuating the knife when the shaft is moved in one direction but not in the other, said support being operable to rock said gear segment and said shaft as said support moves in opposite directions on said base member, said link being pivotally connected to said support beneath the same and a substantial distance toward the operators position and having an upwardly offset portion beyond the side of said support away from said operators position.

'7. In a slicing machine, the combination with a slicing knife, of a substance support reciprocable along one side of said knife, and a driving connection between said substance support and said knife for actuating said knife as said substance support reciprocates, comprising a link pivoted to said support about an axis substantially perpendicular to the cutting plane of said knife and extending away from the operators position, a gear segment rotatable about an axis substantially parallel to said link and having a portion thereof eccentric to its axis of rotation pivotally connected to said link, and a shaft extending substantially parallel to the axis of said knife having a gear thereon meshing with said gear segment for rotating said knife when said gear segment is actuated, said link being connected substantially centrally of the points of support for said substance support as the same reciprocates along its path.

8. In a slicing machine, the combination with a slicing knife, of a substance support reciprocable along one side of said knife, and a driving connection between said substance support and said knife for actuating said knife as said substance support reciprocates, comprising a link pivoted to said support about an axis substantially perpendicular to the cutting plane of said knife and extending away from the operators position, a gear segment rotatable about an axis substantially parallel to said link and having a portion thereof eccentric to its axis of rotation pivotally connected to said link, a shaft extending substantially parallel to the axis of said knife having a gear thereon meshing with said gear segment for rotating said knife when said gear segment is actuated, and means on said support adapted to be manually grasped by the operator and to be used for reciprocating the substance support, said last mentioned means being located substantially in a plane parallel to the cutting plane of said knife and passing through said link.

9. In a slicing machine, the combination with a rotary slicing knife, of a substance support movable past said knife in a plane substantially parallel to the cutting plane thereof, a drive shaft for said knife extending substantially parallel to the axis of rotation of said knife and operatively connected to said knife with a one-way driving connection to said knife, whereby upon oscillation of said shaft, said knife will be positively actuated as the shaft rotates in one direction and will be free to move under its own inertia as said shaft moves in a reverse direction, a pivoted arm having gearing connecting the same to said shaft in direct driving relation therewith, whereby when said arm is oscillated, said shaft will be correspondingly oscillated, a link pivoted to the under side of said support adjacent the operators position and extending beneath said support to a position adjacent said arm and having a pivotal connection with said arm to the side of said support away from the operators position, and operating means on said support for reciprocating the same located above the point of connection between said support and said link, whereby manual pressure on said operating means tends to raise the side of said support adjacent the operators position and counteracts the reaction force operating through said link on said support, which latter force is in a downward direction adjacent the operators side of said table.

10. In a slicing machine, the combination with a slicing knife, of a pair of guides extending substantially parallel to the cutting plane of said knife, a substance carriage slidably mounted on said guides, an arm pivoted on an axis substantially perpendicular to the cutting plane of said knife and substantially mid-way between said guides, a shaft operatively connected in driving relation to said knife and extending substantially perpendicular to the cutting plane of said knife, a connection between said shaft and said arm for actuating said shaft when said arm is actuated, a link pivotally connected to said arm eccentric to the axis thereof and to said support at a point substantially mid-way between said guides, and operating means on said support substantially mid-way between said guides for actuating said support and consequently said knife through the connections set forth.

11. In a slicing machine, the combination with a slicing knife, of a pair of guides extending substantially parallel to the cutting plane of said knife, a substance carriage slidably mounted on said guides, an arm pivoted on an axis substantially perpendicular to the cutting plane of said knife and substantially mid-way between said guides, a shaft operatively connected in driving relation to said knife and extending substantially perpendicular to the cutting plane of said knife, a connection between said shaft and said arm for actuating said shaft when said arm is actuated, a link pivotally connected to said arm eccentric to the axis thereof and to said support at a point substantially mid-way between said guides, and operating means on said support substantially mid-way between said guides for actuating said support and consequently said knife through the connections set forth, said link extending from a point adjacent the operators position beneath said table and then upwardly at an angle to its point of pivotal connection with said arm, and said arm having a path of oscillation distributed substantially equally on opposite sides of a plane perpendicular to the cutting plane of said knife and to the path of reciprocation of said support.

WILHELMUS ADRIANUS VAN BERKEL. 

